Christmas Wish
by smartlooser
Summary: What if some wishes really do come true? Elizabeth is given the chance to wish for the one thing she has always wanted more than anything else in the world.


**Authors note- Just a little Christmas Drabble that struck me last night. It was inspired by Family Man. Prompt- 'what if Elizabeth was feeling sad about not having her parents at Christmas and ends up wishing for them to be with her again.' And some wishes come true…

It had been a long day at the White House. So many people, so many functions, so many everything. Despite all this, President Elizabeth McCord was feeling very lonely. Her husband Henry had just as many responsibilities as she did on this the day before Christmas Eve. As she sat in the oval office waiting Jay, her chief of staff, to announce all was complete for the day; she began to think about how she missed her parents and her family. It had been years since she really thought about them. Not that she didn't miss them every day, but to just sit and try to imagine what it would have been like to have had her family whole. Her parents meeting Henry and loving him just as much as she did, telling her mom that she was pregnant for the first time, her dad crying while holding his first grandchild, having her mom for all those times she didn't know what to do with her young children, being able to ask her parents for parenting advice, and to share her achievements. All in all, Elizabeth was just full of sadness. And then there was a knock to the office door.

"Madam President" said Blake. "A Mr. Adams is here to see you, he's the new archivist. He said he has an appointment, but I apparently missed it. I am so sorry for that ma'am. Shall I send him in?" asked Blake rather nervously. He never missed appointments and he feared to disappoint his boss.

Elizabeth smiled at Blakes frustration at missing something. She found it endearing that he cared so much about her that he ended up winding himself up when he made the smallest of mistakes. "that's fine Blake. What was his name again?" Elizabeth giggled.

"yes ma'am. His name is Mr. Adams. I apologize, I did not get his first name. are you ready for him?" asked Blake in a no-nonsense way.

Elizabeth was startled by the name as Adams was her maiden name; her parents name. she was sure she would have remembered that name even if Blake did forget. She shook herself as a man walked in. as he looked at her, her breath caught in her throat. She was silent for what felt like hours, but was more like a few seconds. The man extended his right hand and said "Madam President. It's a pleasure to meet you. I was very nervous to meet you, but was assured by many of your staff that I had nothing to fear."

It took Elizabeth a second to realize the man had stopped talking and shook his hand. "Yes. Its nice to meet you as well." Elizabeth shook her head and meet the man's eyes. "I'm sorry. You look remarkably like my Father. Um…what did you say your name was?" Elizabeth couldn't shake this strange feeling.

"oh… my apologies. My name is Ben Adams." He said and his smile got even wider when Elizabeth froze.

"Wow, that was my Fathers name. Um… this may be a strange question…but are you related to my father? I was unaware he had any brothers or sisters?" Elizabeth felt like cold water had been pored down her back at his words.

"well Madam President, not that I was ever made aware…" he began but was cut off as Jay entered the office.

"Madam President it is time for you to adjourn to the residence to meet your family." Jay said without looking up.

As Jay raised his head from his tablet, he saw Ben and Elizabeth. He noticed the calm look of Ben and the pale face of Elizabeth. "ma'am are you ok? You look kinda pale…" asked Jay. He was worried about just how shaken she looked.

Elizabeth took a deep breath and physically shook herself before she replied. "Yes, Jay I am fine." She turned to Ben "it was nice to meet you Mr. Adams. I look forward to working with you. Have a Merry Christmas"

At that very moment, Blake opened the door to escort Mr. Adams out and nodded to Elizabeth. "Have a good holiday Ma'am, Trevor and I are going to visit his parents. I will see you next week." Said Blake as he closed the door.

Then Jay turned back to Elizabeth and said his goodbyes. As she walked up to the residence, she was overcome with the loss of her parents. She stopped at the big bay window just outside the family room and looked up at the sky. "I wish you were still here. I wish you could be here and see everything you missed." She sighed. She could hear the laughter of her family. By the sounds of it, all her kids were home. As she turned around, she was startled to see Ben Adams standing behind her with a loving facial expression.

It was only her CIA training that kept her from screaming. She knew that the secret service were less than 20 ft away. But something in his face made her calmly ask "Mr. Adams, what are you doing up here. I think you may have made a wrong turn at the stairs." She smiled at him and then as he smiled and reached out his left hand and touched her forehead, then turned and walked away with out a word. Elizabeth felt this was odd, but for some reason could not find it in her to care. She continued into the family room to see her family. The loneliness lessened as it always did when she was around her kids.

As henry walked up to her "Hey babe…did you get caught up? I was worried you would miss the kids." He pulled her to him for a loving hug and a kiss. As they broke apart henry noted the pale quality to Elizabeth's face. She was not a tan person, but she wasn't pasty either. "Babe, are you ok? You look really pale…Babe…Elizabeth…Elizabeth!"

Henry was getting worried as she had not answered him. The kids had noticed by now as well. "Dad…is Mom ok?' asked one of the kids, he wasn't sure which. Henry tightened his hold on Elizabeth as she started to sway on her feet. He was about to call for a medic just as her eyes rolled back and she fainted. The kids freaked out and started yelling. Henry eased both of them down to the floor with Elizabeth's head in his lap. "MEDIC…GET THE MEDIC!" yelled Henry as he felt and found her pulse. He just kept calling her name. "Elizabeth…babe wake up…can you hear me? Elizabeth…honey…open your eyes for me…" henry was sounding more desperate as the medic arrived.

As the medics arrived, they had Henry move to give them more space. They hooked her up to monitors and placed oxygen in her nose. As they asked Henry questions "what was Madam doing before she fainted? Did she hit her head? Has she been feeling unwell? Do you know when she ate last?"

Henry shook his head saying she had just walked into the room looking pale and then just dropped. He told them she didn't hit anything as she was in his arms when she fainted. Then he said that they would have to ask her assistant Blake about when she ate and that no, she had not been feeling sick.

Henry held his kids to him as they watched the medics work on Elizabeth and all five began to pray. Each in their own ways for Elizabeth to be ok.

Elizabeth didn't hear anything. She was in a very bright room. "Hello…is anyone here? Hello?" she yelled into the void.

Then she heard a voice behind her. A voice she recognized. She turned to see Mr. Adams. "Ben…what is going on? Where am I? who are you?" she asked quickly.

Ben replied in a soothing voice "Well, my child. To explain what is going on and where you are would take more time than we have. As for who I am, I am one of many who grant very special wishes. I take the form of your greatest wish. In your case, it is the form of your father as you were closer to him than your mother. Now, as out time is running out; onto business. What is the one thing you wish for more than anything else in the world. Know that you only get one chance at this. You must say it out loud. It must be spoken as if your very life depends on your wish."

Before Elizabeth could reply, he was gone. She was left in the overwhelming white void. She ran over what he said over and over in her head. '_this is insane…what the hell is this? Make a wish. What wish? World peace? Would she be selfish if she wished for what she really truly wanted? Would that make her a bad person to wish for her parents back? would that change how her life turned out? Would she still have ended up with Henry and the kids? She had seen movies where this whole wish thing didn't really work out the way you hoped…'_

Out loud Elizabeth said "This is so crazy!" she sighed and took a deep breath. "what could it really hurt? This is not real anyway…" she then said in a clear voice "**I wish my parents had not died in the car crash and were with me throughout my childhood and my adult years with Henry and to see my kids be born and grow up."**

As she finished speaking, she could hear her name being called. But not her actual name, but a name she had not heard since her father had died. He was the only one who called her "Liza…Liza its time to wake up…come on Liza…the kids are gonna open the gifts without you!"


End file.
